Caldwell County MO Archives History .....McQUEENS -- PIONEERS IN IOWA ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mo/mofiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Karen Walker khw4@yahoo.com September 3, 2008, 6:49 pm THE McQUEENS -- PIONEERS IN IOWA Narrator: Chas. McQueen, 78, of Hamilton, Mo. 1. Going West in 49 2. Early Schools 3. Early Styles 4. Early Sewing Machines Mr. McQueen's father, John McQueen (1817-1893) was born in Scotland. He brought his mother and two sisters to America to improve their circumstances. They lived one year in New York then moved to Galena, Illinois. In 1849, he joined a wagon train for the gold fields of California. There were one hundred ten men, forty wagons and six yoke of oxen to each wagon. Not knowing what was ahead, they filled their wagons with materials ill fitted for their expedition. They were the first wagon-train to cross the plains and found going very hard. There were no bridges and they swam the cattle through the water and cut down trees to make pontoon bridges. They passed through St. Joseph and went on the Great American Desert (as Kansas was then called). They ran out of water. Men and animals suffered, and died. As the oxen died, they began throwing stuff out of the wagons to lighten the load and went on. When they got to their destination they had been out one year and had three oxen and the front wheels of one wagon. They stopped at Feather River close to Sacramento City and all found gold in small amounts. They lived in a log cabin four years and three months. Mr. McQueen returned by way of Cape Horn in a sailing vessel, back to New York and then to Galena and home. He then bought land in the Iowa Prairie at $1.25 per acre. Later he bought one and one-half sections in Cherokee County, Iowa, one hundred eighty miles west of his former home, which the McQueen family still hold. Mr. Chas. McQueen told much of his boyhood days in Iowa. They had begging Indians who were different from the wild Indians which his father had met on the western plains who shot people with arrows. They had no roads, no bridges in the 60's and 70's. At school, he learned the 3 R's; the McGuffey reader ended one's education. Examinations were unknown. Teachers boarded round on the patrons--one week at a home. School lasted four months a year and that in the coldest months. Seats and desks were built around the wall, and the pupils faced the wall; turning around to face the teacher to recite. The teacher was very fortunate if she taught in a boxed-up school, for most of them were log-schools. Men's and boy's clothes were somewhat different from now. Boys wore boots with copper toes if they wanted to be stylist. For boys of 5-16 years, there were "jimmies" or vests of coarse cloth held by a buckle in front (called by Ohio frontiers-men "wampus"). Boots of genuine leather cost only $3.00 and they came up to the knee. They had bootjacks to pull off boots and the straps pulled them on. Hog grease kept the leather soft, also kept out the water. No male person wore a necktie; why do it when a long beard would hide it? However the gold front collar button often had a fancy set for show. Enemies of stock were coyotes and wolves. There were regular hunts to destroy them. The blizzards in Iowa were terrible. People got lost and their bodies might lie for weeks before found. The old dinner horn (some animal horn) hung at the back door and it was the duty of the women folks to blow it a half hour before meals. A gourd from their own garden always hung at the well. There was no white sugar, all was dark brown. Candy was rare except for a Christmas treat, and Christmas brought simple gifts those days of the sixties up in Iowa. Mr. McQueen never saw a kerosene lamp till he was ten. They used candles and grease lamps. The coal-oil was dark colored. The new lamp his father bought had a sign on it "Never move after you light it." The body of the lamp was bronze, so you stuck a straw in to see how much oil was there. All sewing was done by hand till his father bought a sewing machine "Little Giant" about 18 inches long. It was screwed on to any table you had. The children turned the knob on the wheel while the mother directed the garment under the needle. There was no belt on the machine. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mo/caldwell/history/other/mcqueens158gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mofiles/ File size: 4.8 Kb